Courier's Effect 2: Missions, Sacrifices, Enemies
by CourierMaximum42
Summary: It's been three years. I'm now embroiled in the world of Commander Shepard. Now, is the start of my effect. My Courier's Effect. And nothing will stop me from delivering justice and peace. SI, rated T mainly due to some coarse language and violence. No AN apart from Disclaimer. Garrus/Shepard, Kaidan/Ashley, SI/Tali. Second work so I'm free to all reviews.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware, and Fallout NV belongs to Obsidian. All game references, tv shows, and books belong to their creative creators.

Welcome. Whoever you are, thank you for reading my logs. This log is set in the events of Mass Effect 1, and the prologue of ME2.

Begin Log

Chapter 1: The Start Of An Awesome Adventure With Convos

"I won't lie to you crew, this road will be a hard one. We will make sacrifices. But I assure you...Eden Prime will not happen again. We will stop him. We will kick his ass so fricking high, that he'll become the Arterius Comet. That's all crew." Said Shepard over the inter-com.

I liked that speech. Different from the game, but more motivating never-thrless. We recruited Wrex on our way to the docks. He's way more badass than in the game, but then again, this isn't a game anymore. This is my life. And my life is pretty screwed up. Ah well. I don't care too much. I got a good brother with me, and a pretty good squad to work with. Life won't be bad I reckon. Here's to surviving. The room I'm staying in is the crew's quarters. Never was in the game but still...This ain't a game no more. Theres actually an added 3 decks. A training room, firing range added. Theres thecrew deck and the last one, the Showers. Worst thing about the Showers deck is...there's no privacy. As in guys'n'gals shower. Together...Yikes. I'll have to shower alonewhen everyone's asleep. I know, I know, I get a chance to peek at hot chicks, but if I did, I'd probably be gelded or something for fraternisastion. Speaking of fraternisationit seems that Shep's got the hots for...Garrus. I know right?! It's fricking insane. You couldn't romance Garrus in the first game, but this should be interesting. I'll definitly play matchmaker if the chance comes up, believe you me.

Anyways, at the moment I'm walking up to Wrex, mustering up my courage.

"What do you want, Human?" He says in the deep guttural voice he has. God, I can feel the vibrations of it.

"Just saying hi, Krogan" I retort, staring at him. He just stares back, trying to look intimidating. I glare back, not going to back down from the challenge.

"Har. You got some courage Human. Not many Humans are brave enough to stare down a Krogan. The name's Wrex."

"Aye. I got courage. And I'm not the smartest either so there's that. M'name's Dewitt. Jack Dewitt."

"I've heard of you, weakling. You 'saved the Council'. Big deal. You'll have to do something big to impress me."

"What? Like kill a Thresher Maw? I could do that with one hand tied behind my back."

"Har. Im surprised you know what a Thresher is. And I'll take you up on that challenge if we meet a Maw. Do that, and I would be impressed, indeed."

"Of course. I do know a lot about Krogans. And Turians. And well, a lot of cultures."

"Hmm, I'll test that culture knowledge on Krogans another time."

"Aye. See you later Wrex"

"Weakling" With a nod of his head, which signalled the conversation was over. I saw that Veronica (I will call Shepard that from now on or Ver or V) was talking to Garrus.

I went into the engine room and my God, the engine was so beautiful. A blue, big orb that hung there, like a shining diamond. My mouth hung open when I heard Engineer Adams says something.

"Oh. Serviceman Dewitt. Anything I can help you with?" Oh yeah, I'm Serviceman, due to not being Alliance personel. It's kinda cool, having a rank.

"No Adams, I'm good. I just came to see if Tali'Zorah was alright. Also, I'd like to learn more about the ship from you, if you aren't busy."

"Of course Serviceman. I've got some time to talk. Around ten minutes or so."

"Right, so what is the engine essentially?"

"It's a little complicated but I can explain in a simpler detail. The engine was crafted by the Turians. It's essentially made of Gtyus particles, a special kind of engine particles. Itallows us to travel for extremely long periods of time without having to refuel. It allows for a sneakier travel, it's unable to be detected by other ship's sensors. Obviously, if they have windows they can just look out and they'll see us."

Im unable to resist but I say it anyways.

"Windows are a structural weakness."

"Hah. Funny, kid. But yeah, that's the engine. The ship itself was crafted by human and Turian metalsmiths. They banged and harvested and added lots of things, materials

into it to keep the ship strong, agile, quick but definitly sturdy. This ship is a marvellous sight. It's a wonder, and I'm quite grateful to be the High Engineer of it. I never stop

thanking Anderson profusely. He's a good man, and you seem like a good kid for listening to me. Most engineers fall asleep around the Gytus particles part. Thanks for listening

kid."

"No problems Adams. See you later"

"Bye Serviceman Dewitt"

I walk over to Tali and lightly tap her on the shoulder.

"Ah! Oh...Hey ."

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you . I was just gonna say hello."

"It's okay. And please, just call me Tali. How are you?"

"I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure I knew if you're settling okay. Since y'know..."

"I'm fine. I was thinking about how much of a bosh'tet Saren is."

"Yeah, he's a real bastard. So, are you on your Pilmigrige?"

"W-what? How do you know about the Pilmigrige?"

"Yeah. My best friend, the Turian had a Quarian lover. She would talk to me about your culture. But uh, she broke up with Garrus."

"Oh. That's sad. Well, to answer your question, yes I am on my Pilmigrige. I didn't know that humans could be so interested in Quarians with all their racial issues."

"Well I'm not just some 'Human'. I mean, I did live with a Turian. And work with him. I'm interested in all cultures. Hell, a Batarian used to be my friend. Then he left the

Citadel. Hell, my only friends now is just Garrus. But nothing could seperate us anyways. We're pratically brothers."

"Well that's good. I've met some people who have too many grudges. But I'm glad that some people don't have racial issues." I couldn't see it through her mask but she was

smiling at me, I'm sure of it.

"That's good to hear Tali. Haters gonna hate as they say."

"Hmm? I don't understand that idiom." She crossed her arms, her body showing confusion.

"It just means you can't change the minds of some people so you let them do it. Example, haters are going to hate no matter how much you try to change their ideals, their

beliefs. So that's the meaning of haters gonna hate."

"Oh, I see. That's...interesting to know. Thanks. It's nice to know more about your culture."

"It's not a problem. I like you Tali, you're very cool.

She responded by wringing her 3-fingered hands together, her posture becoming uncomftorable. Oh dear...I think I embarrased her.

"T-thanks Dewitt..."

"I-Uh-Nevermind. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Of course. Goodbye Dewitt." She turned around and did...whatever she did on that terminal of hers.

I left the engine room and headed over to Ashley. She seemed...calm. Which is good.

"Hey Chief."

"Serviceman."

"Want to talk?"

"Not really, but I think we are anyways."

"Look, I don't know why you don't like Turians. Or any aliens in that matter. So I just want to know, is all."

"Fine. Serviceman, my Grandfather...He surrendered at Shanxi. 'The first human to surrender to the aliens'. So, I think I'm entitled to a little xenophobicity."

"Ah. I see. Your Grandfather surrendered at Shanxi because he knew that the Turians would overwhelm him and his squad. He didn't want to unnescceraly sacrifice lives. He did it to save the colony and his squad. He may've had a tainted last name for what he did, but I view him as a hero. Think of this in that perspective Chief."

"Hmmm...You're right. Thanks. I...I'll try to be more nice to the aliens."

"No problemo. Adios Ash"

"Sayonara Dewitt."

I left her to her weapons. I think I've talked to everyone here. Garrus can talk to me later, if he wants. I head over to the elevator and press the Up button. Now I'm gonna gosee Kaidan and maybe good ol' Joker.

I see Ver talking to Kaidan so I head to the cockpit, to see Joker.

"Hey Flight Lietenaunt Jeff Moreau."

"Oh yay, another Alliance ins-Oh." He said as he turned around.

"What?" I say with a fake puzzled look.

"I just don't like being called that, Serviceman Dewitt." He said sarcastically.

"And I don't like snarky pilots, but we all gotta deal with crap" I say, a cheeky grin.

"Snarky pilots? Mmmm, that's my specialty!" He retorted snarkily.

"Oooh, maybe you'd like your bones snapped in 23 different places?" I say with mock anger.

"Alright, alright you win the game."

Wait...game...DAMMIT.

"Dammit, I just lost the game!"

I hear groans behind me and a chuckle from Joker.

"Was it worth it?"

"Oh yes Dewitt."

"No, I meant was it worth the leg ripped from your goddamned body and being repeatedly bashed in the face with it?" I say, with a smirk.

"Woah. That's very violent. Maybe you need a pshyciatrist?"

"Naw. I'm fine. Anyways Joker, how's the ship going?"

"It's going good. No i'm sorry, it's fricking amazing. It's one hell of a ship, that's for sure." He said, with a certain happiness.

"Good. Nice talking to you mate. See you later eh? And go easy with the Fornax."

"Yeah, Goodbye for now Dewitt. Wait...what? How'd you know about my Fo-Oh ho, you think you're so clever...dammit you are"

I walk away, chuckling. I see Ver and I walk up to her.

"Hey Veronica. So, what's the mission?"

"Hey Dewitt. We're to go to the Artemis Tau cluster, and we're to find a potential helpful Asari, Liara T'soni. She's the daughter of-"

"Matriach Benezia. Yeah I know. Alriiiight then. Who's going down then?"

"You, Wrex, Ashley and Tali. A bit of everything. A total combatist, a technichian incase we run into Geth, and a combatist with biotic powers. A good mix."

"Aw, you missed my talents." I say with mock sorrow.

"Hah. Your'e an all-rounder. I've never actually seen anyone be able to be excellent at all 3 skills. I'm a bit jealous actually."

"But your biotic skills are badass! I've never seen someone be able to Lift, Shockwave, and Throw so quickly in succession."

"Thanks. We'll talk later, yeah?"

"Course. See you later Veronica."

"Bye Dewitt".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: 'Ello Liara, We're The Team.

Suffo

cat

e

him no

w

kill him

mai

m his

fr

iends.

Mak

e suffer

Syn

thetics are

po

wer

ful

We

A

re

Le

gio

N

I wake up, panting, sweating. My God...That dream. Ever since we were on our way to Artemis Tau, I've been having those nightmares. We're to land on Therum today. The mission officialy is to find Liara, see if she's got information on Saren and Benezia. If she's hostile, we're to subdue 'er, bring her in and interrogate her. But I know she's gonna be okay. Anyways, I get up and head to the cafeteria. The ship's got it's own cycle, and at the moment it's currently night. I press the button on the elevator and wait a long while.

I understand that Bioware had to make the elevators slow due to loading other areas but here? My God, there's no excuse for it taking this long. I mean, they made the enginewhich cost billions, yet they couldn't make the fricking elevators faster...Anyways, after what feels like eternity is in reality 3 minutes, the door finally opens. I head over to the...fridge thing and pull out a sandwich. I make sure it's for humans, and I sit down at the table with chairs. I take a bite and boy, they taste good in the future! I hear footsteps behind me but I continue eating.

"Ah, it's Dewitt, the weakling Human." Yeah, it's Wrex. Whoop de h'slaking doo.

"Oh look everyone, it's Wrex the dumbass Krogan." I hear a...chuckle emit from Wrex.

"You got some courage on you. Noone i've ever met has had the quad to call a Krogan dumbass. Still, you gotta prove your strength."

"Eh. You like cake Wrex?"

"No...THE CAKE IS A LIE!" He yells at me, his deep voice booming...wait...did he seriously just reference Portal? No flipping way...

"Uhm...calm down Wrex."

"Forget that outburst Human. I was once invited to a party once, and the cake was indeed a bomb. Pew. So that's that."

"Yikes. Well...uhm...Oooh, ask me about something to do with Krogans."

"Genophage. Your opinion."

Oh s'kak. Well, I can tell him the truth.

"A mistake. The Salarians shouldn't have done that to your race. Sure, you caused a race genocide but that was to protect the galaxies. Instead of neuturing you, the Turiansand Salarians should've just decimated your race to a fraction to cull you. To teach you that genocide is not the answer to everything. They were afraid of you. So they resorted in the only way they could. By doing what they thought was right. Although, they weren't right. That's my opinion."

I saw his facial expression change to thoughtful.

"Hmmm...You're an interesting Human Dewitt. Goodnight." He lumbered off, carrying what I think is meat.

A few hours later, everyone's up and running. Veronica's giving a brief on our goals on Therum.

"So recap: We go down in the rover AKA Mako, we are to navigate our way to a mine into Prothean Ruins, find Liara T'Soni, bring her back to the Normandy and that's all. Wrex,your gonna be the Gunner in the Mako, Tali you can uh, be the engineer, make sure the Mako's staying good, Ash, your my navigator. Dewitt you um...you can be the...hmm...oooh! I know! You can be with Tali and um, help her I guess..."

"Good to know i've got an important role Shepard." Everyone around the table chuckled.

"Alright. Extra news: We're doing an air drop. That's all. Move out to the Mako."

Air. Drop. That's going to be absolutely fun! I sigh, not as if i'm tired but as if like 'LETS GO ALREADY'.

We're in the Mako, waiting for Joker.

"Let's play I-spy.

"Shut up Dewitt"

"I spy with my little wittle eye, something starting with M"

"Moron" Wrex then points at me.

"Bingo!"

"Shepard, Air drop in 5,4,3,2, Godspeed" Joker radioes in.

That's when everything becomes so...free.

I'm just laughing like a fool, as we drop.

Wrex is laughing.

Tali's screaming.

Veronica's whooping.

Ashley's chuckling wildly.

Veronica then uses the secondary boosters to ease off the landing.

"Wrex, get on the turret! Ash, make sure we don't drive into the fricking lava! Tali, make sure our shields are up, and for the love of God, stop laughing Dewitt!"

I stop. We drived bumpily untill we reached the 2 geth armatures that attack.

"Shepard! We need a ground force to keep the heat off the Mako! I'll go out with Wrex!"

She just nods in reply, when Wrex and I get out, shotguns raised.

"Dewitt, if you take down these armatures, i'll respect you a little more." Yells Wrex over the cannon fire of the Mako.

"Alright" I yell back, grinning wildly. I throw a Shockwave while infusing it with a Overload. The armature's shields drop. The Mako quickly cannons it. It doesn't kill it though.

I Throw it, forcing it to go flying back into the lava. It dissolves into scrap metal. We still have one armature left, however.

"WREX, LIFT IT!"

He responds with a grunt and lobs a Lift on the armature. The armature's legs flail wildly as it slowly ascends into the air. I quickly Incinerate it, while Wrex keeps shooting itwith his shotgun. I throw a Warp at it, degrading it's armor. I throw a grenade, and the armature finally explodes.

"Nice Dewitt. Your still a weakling though."

"Ah, screw you Krogan." I say mockingly. He responds by chuckling. We get back in the Mako where I'm assuming Veronica and Ash looks pretty impressed. Tali's focusing on recalibrating the shields though. Ver drives on, untill we reach the Geth Outpost.

"S'kak! We got Geth Turrets Shepard!"

"Oh REALLY? I DIDN'T NOTICE THAT!" She remarks, as she drives through the side entrance.

We make easy work of the Outpost. We drive on, untill we reach the undriveable passage.

"Alright Team, we can't get through here, so we move on. Be on the watch, who knows what we will find. Be careful. Move out!"

We all say our ayes, and squeeze through the entrance. Wrex grunts and grumbles as he barely squeezes through.

"Oi, Krogan. Maybe you shouldn't be a fattie then this wouldn't be so hard!"

"SHUT UP! YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF ASKLEH!"

"Ooh, looks like I struck a nerve." I chuckle.

"Dewitt, your either incredibly brave or just stupid to piss a Krogan off" Remarks Veronica

"I'd say brave. With a slight chance of stupidity and insanity thrown in, also, we're expecting to get approval points with the ladies, cause ladies are awesome."

She chuckles but stops as we're shot at by Geth. I throw up a Barrier, shooting back with my Trmnator. I manage to kill a few flashlights before the Team kills the rest. Veronica signals for us to move out.

We follow her, untill I see a Geth Sniper. I quickly Shockwave it. More flashlights come out of their little hidey-holes but we send them back. We move up, and see the entrance for the mine into the Prothean ruins. We move up, and Veronica presses her comm button.

"Normandy, this is Shepard. We're gonna enter the ruins but we mi-"

We suddenly get shot by a massive blue ball.

"SHEPARD! IT'S A COLUSSUS!" Tali yells, frantic.

We all run towards cover as multiple Geth Troopers start shooting at us. Veronica is then hit by a Overload by the Geth Hopper.

I pull out Erode, my modified pistol and I quickly shoot at it, succeeding as I score a headshot. I pull out my assault rifle, aim it at a few Geth troopers. I release the trigger, and the bullets leave the barrel.

It's more of a spray'n'pray tatic. It works. Now, it's just the Colussus left.

"TALI! ANYWAY WE CAN FINISH THIS H'SLAK OFF?!"

"YES. THERE'S A PIPE LIKE THING HOLDING IT'S HEAD UP. DESTROY THAT AND IT GOES DOWN!"

"ALRIGHT THEN! COVER MY ASS, IM GOING IN!"

"NO, DEWITT I-" It doesn't matter, as I Charge the Colussus. It turns around as I'm already on it's back. Im repeatedly smashing the hell out of the pipe-like thing with the butt of my assault rifle.

After a few unsuccesful bashes, I finally get a 'critical' hit. Although something bad's gunn-

BOOM! I go flying into a nearby container. Darkness then starts to cloud my vision. I hear faint voices. Guys...I'm fine...Just slap on some medi-gel and I'll be alright. I groan and grunt while getting up. The darkness in my eye-sight is slowly dissolving.

"Dewitt! Are you okay?! You took a bad blow to your head there!" Yells Veronica. God, she's worried over nothing.

"I feel like a hangover on just drinking Ryncol. But I'll be fine. We've got an Asari to save after all."

Veronica grins. She seems happy that I'm OK. She probably just cares a lot for her crew after all.

Tali's slapping on some medi-gel, asking and asking if I'm okay. I'm a little flattered she cares so much, but then again I'm one of the only Humans who's treated her a-ok.

"Kid. You have a quad on you for sure. That was pretty impressive. Albeit, for a weakling."

"Seriously Wrex? I took down a Colussus. On foot. With my hands. If that's not s'kaking impressive, I dunno what is."

"Try taking down a Maw. Harder. Still, I've gotta admit your'e no weakling now. Just a sarcastic, witty, strong, idiot who can play with guns and biotics. I'd say that's an improvement to weakling, yes?"

"Yeah. Better than a weakling." I reply, a satisfied grin on my face.

We walk down the tunnel, leading down to the abyss that is known of the Prothean ruins on Therum. We finally make it to the end of the endless tunnel, where there's scaffolding. Not like the scaffolding at a house being built but these are metal walkways, literally dug in to the ground to keep the walkways stable and safe. Anyways, we walk to the elevator thing when we get ambushed by a couple of Geth Drones. I Overload one, where the Team just shoots the others.

"So much for simplicity" I mutter quietly to myself.

We get in the elevator and press the button to let us go down. It's not long before the elevator fritzes out and we're forced to walk the stairs down. I know Liara T'Soni isn't that far so that's some good news at least. It's not long untill we hear Liara. I raise my rifle, just to keep in character.

"Stand down Dewitt, I'm thinking that's the Asari we're after."

"Good. I've killed a Colussus so I'm sure it's time to actually get the damned goal we were to achieve."

"Yup. It sure would be nice Shepard." Said Ash, agreeing.

"Hello? Is there anyone there to help me?" Said that shy voice of Liara. God, she became such a s'kak in ME2, but the crap she went through...I'm not surprised.

"Yeah. I'm Serviceman Dewitt. I'm with Spectre Shepard, Commander of the Alliance Navy. We've come to help you out."

"Oh? Well I was exploring these Prothean ruins when I stumbled across a trap. It trapped me in this forcefield and I'm unable to get out."

"Oh, no, really? Who woulda guessed that from the fact your'e HOVERING IN THE DAMNED AIR!" I say with sarcasm lacing my tone.

"Shut up Courier. Don't be sarcastic now you little weasel."

"Aw, Shepard, the weasel's my spirit animal!" I respond snarkily.

"I said shut up. That's an order." She responded, with mock anger.

"Your'e race is very strange indeed Commander. There's no way to get me out." Liara interrupted, probably due to her wanting to be free.

"Oh, OK. We'll look for a way, just stay here."

"Where would I go Commander?" Asks Liara.

"Ju-Just stay here Ms. T'Soni."

We move out, leaving Liara. We see a mining laser and I point it out to Veronica.

"Alright, seems like we've got a mining laser that can blow up a hole in the weird wall thing. We're to move through the hole, and see if there's a way to get up to T'Soni. Dewitt, get on the laser, hack it. We're to cover him while he hacks it. I doubt there won't be an attack. Move out." (All commands are default on Veronica, just for future reference.)

I move over to the terminal which controls the mining laser. I start hacking away when we're attacked.

"Team! Cover Dewitt, make sure that laser gets hacked!"

I start typing away more frantically, just to hurry the hack. I deflux the binary subsystems so the siluxs are free to move around.

"Commander! It's hacked. Laser going in 3..2..1..."

The laser then fires into the Prothean ruin wall.

"Team! Move out, move out! We're getting swarmed by to many Geth Troopers!"

We follow Veronica's order and quickly get through the new entrance. We run over to a ladder, and start climbing it. Wasn't in the game, but I don't mind. I stop climbing the ladder, as we're on the same level Liara's on.

"Dewitt, go get Ms.T'Soni, we'll see if we can get the elevator working again. Move it."

"Aye aye Commander."

I jogged over to where Liara was hovering. I pressed a button, and she slowly descended to the ground.

"Thank you. I've been stuck in here for a long time. I do not know how long."

"No problem. We've been sent here due to your familial ties with Matriach Benezia. She's working with a rogue Spectre, Saren Arterius. Sources say that you might have information on their location and goals."

"I-I'm sorry, but I haven't seen my mother for 50 years."

"Alrighty then. We'll talk later on our ship, the Normandy. But at the moment, we gotta get outta here, before we're swarmed by Geth. You know how to handle a gun?

"Only a pistol."

"Okay, take my pistol then. It's modified to detect different life-forms so you don't have to change the ammo type. It's automatic."

I hand my pistol over to her. She nods, and holds it properly. We move over to the Team.

"A Quarian machinist, Alliance commander, Courier, Krogan battlemaster, Alliance grunt, and an Asari Prothean researcher. Commander, we should be an opening act at some funny clown show."

Veronica just grins in response where the others laugh.

"We're in a dangerous situation and you're cracking jokes?" Asks Liara, confused.

"Ms.T'Soni, it's how he calms us down. Stops us from being stressed. Keeps us battle-ready." Explains Veronica.

Liara just nods. We wait, as the elevator finally stops.

I see a Krogan come up, with a few Geth.

"Hand over the Asari. Or don't. Be more fun that way."

"Yeah, Krogan. As if" Answers Veronica.

"Okay then. Kill them."

I Charge the Krogan, and keep hitting him with biotic attacks. I open up my Omni-tool blade, and I grab the Krogan. I stick the blade under his faceplate thingy, and I push inmy blade. The faceplate then comes off, and the Krogan's screaming. I quickly pull out my shotgun and shoot him, before I get rushed at. His head then pops, and all is left is a bloody paste. I Lift a few Geth Troopers, shooting at them.

I hear the unmistikable sound of my shottie overheating. I go to switch to my pistol when I remember that I gave it to Liara, who at the moment is Shockwaving a few more Geth Troopers. I feel several shots go into my chest plate, but a few makes it through to the skin. I grimace,but I instead dive behind cover, after I pick up the headless Krogan's shotgun. I peek out, and I feel a shot graze my ear. I let off a few shots before the crap shotgun overheats.

I pull out my sniper and I snipe a few. The Team finally kills the remaining stragglers.

"Dewitt, you alright? You took a few shots"

"I'm fine Shepard. Eurgh, crap. That Krogan bastard was a little tough."

Wrex stares at me, around 7 metres away. Right, the faceplate removal...

"Right. Let's get outta this place."

She then calls Joker, to get our evacuation.

That's when we all felt the rumbling, the tremors.

"Team! Move your asses, NOW!"

0We all obeyed to that simple order, and started running. We got to the tunnel that led to groundside. We all quickly ran up it, trying to make it. I made sure that everyone else made it to the door before I got out myself. We saw the Normandy, just hovering a little bit above the ground. Everyone got up in the order of Veronica, followed by Wrex, Ashley and Liara.

"Dewitt! Tali! Get up here NOW!" Yelled Veronica.

"Shepard! I can't! I need help!" Responded Tali.

I picked her up, and tried to help her to get on the Normandy's dock level. I pushed on her 'rear end', and she finally got up. I jumped up to get on the Normandy. Tali helped me up, bygrabbing my hand. I was pulled up, and I was then on the Normandy again. I think that this mission is complete.

Time to debrief.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Spar With Ash, A Medical Procedure

"Embrace Eternity!"

We had a little debrief, now it seems like Veronica and Liara's melding. It looks strange, as they're just standing there not doing anything. Even though I know that Veronica will be reliving the vision. God, that's going to be even more surreal for V. When they finish whatever happens, V blinks several times.

"Goddess...That was so livid...uh...I'm not feeling so well"

"Huh? I feel fine."

"That's because you were the passive part of the exchange. I was the one who had to gather the information, to recieve the vision. I do not know how to translate the vision, it is just images at the moment."

"Ah I see. See the nurse, Doctor Chakwas. She'll help you with anything."

"Thank you Commander."

"It's just Shepard. And we're dismissed everyone."

Everyone, including me got up.

"Commander, want me to patch you through to the Council?"

"Yes please Joker. Serviceman, stay behind."

"Aye aye Shepard." I got up, and stood beside Veronica.

"Shepard, we've recieved your report as well as the Courier's. Seriously, blowing up a Prothean ruin?"

"With all due respect Councilors, it was neccesary to rescue T'Soni's life. She's proven to be loyal so far so it has been worth it. As for the Prothean ruins, that was the assassins sent to kill Ms.T'Soni, more proof that Benezia or Saren wanted T'Soni dead."

"Right. Keep us in contact Commander and Courier."

The holograms of the Council then dissipated into nothingness.

"God, the Council's full of assholes." Says Veronica, shaking her head slowly.

"You think Veronica? You JUST recognized that. I applaud your amazing detective skills. You would've been 'excellent' in C-sec." I emphasise excellent, showing I'm just joking around.

She just smirks in response and walks out of the comm room.

I follow, but I head towards the cockpit to see Joker.

I really quietly walk up behind him, where I'm sure he's 'reading' a magazine.

"Enjoying your alien porn?"

"GAH! Jesus Dewitt...gave me a heart attack."

"Good. Heart attacks are good to uhm...heart stuff."

"Hah. Anyways, what do you want?"

"Just checking you haven't broken your hand looking at your Fornax."

"How would I b-Oh ho, funny. Sorry, I'm busy, I got a urgent meeting."

"Alright then. I'll let you get back to your stuff"

"See ya then Dewitt"

I walk away from Joker, and I head downstairs. I see Kaidan's talking to Veronica again. Please no Shenko romance. God, Horizon...

Anyways, I press the button to go down to the Training deck. I need to train on my assault rifle. The recoil's been getting my arm a bit sore so I need to go down, and train at the firing range.

There's also a mod bench down there so I can always add a modification to reduce the kickback.

The doors finally open and I see Ash punching the hell out of a punching bag. I walk over to her and I lean against a wall.

"What'd that punching bag ever do to you Ash?"

"Heh. Shut up Dewitt."

"Y'know, not many people call me by my first name."

"Hell if I know why, Dewitt. Anyways, what'd you want to talk about?"

"Just checking on you. If you want to talk about your sqaud that's okay."

"Fine. But we're sparring if you want me to talk."

"Crap. I'm gonna get my ass kicked. But deal. Let's get going."

We move over to a ring-like area and start getting in our fighting stances. I stretch and crack my neck.

"So basically, my squad was stationed at Eden Prime. We were supposed to find the Prothean artifact, a beacon. Once we did, we were to escort it to a ship, the Legion. "

She threw a left jab, aiming for my stomach. I deflected it with my arms. She then quickly threw a right hook, and it hit my cheek. I jumped back after she hit me, and circled her, wary.

"We saw several Geth dropships. Our mission had just gotten harder. A lot harder. We got swarmed by a lot of Geth troops. Thats...that's when we saw the big ship. The one Saren uses."

She then did a flying roundhouse kick. I barely just ducked under it. I saw that most of the crew was now watching the fight. Most people were cheering, not for any particular person.

I lifted my leg up, and managed to get her in the stomach. She winced in pain. I then jumped at her, like a tackle. I got her to the ground and raised my fist an held it to her face.

"My squad...we got overwhelmed. We had to retreat but...my teammates were slaughtered. It wasn't a retreat, it was just a run for our lives. I tried...I tried saving them but it was too late. They had bled out..."

She then kneed me in the groin. I fell onto the side, and she held her fist to MY face. She then helped me up.

"I wish...I wish we hadn't been stationed there..."

"It's not your fault that Saren did this. It's HIS fault, not yours."

She laid her head on my shoulder and started to cry. I wrapped my arms around her. Everyone who was watching went off, who just realized they had somewhere to be.

"Thank you, Dewitt. I appreciate this. You're a good friend."

"Heh. Anybody would be nice. I like you a lot Ash. You're my friend. Now and forever."

After a little while, Ash went back to her spot on the 2nd level. I pressed the button to go up to see Liara. I waited a little while and the elevator doors finally opened. I walked to the little medic-center. Oh before I see Liara, I thought I'd see Chakwas and check up on my wounds.

"Hey Doc. I'm here 'cause I've got some wounds which I need to check up on."

"It's Chakwas. And hello Serviceman Dewitt. What wounds would this be?"

"Blow to the head, graze on my ear, and chest shots. I used some medi-gel but I think they need a proper check up."

"Mmmhmm. I'll need your history with medical problems as well. Just so I know if any medicines I may prescribe or use in a or several operations will cause any allergic reaction."

"No. My mother had leukemia though so there's that. I don't know if it's a family condition. That's all really. Oh, and I died once, for 5 minutes."

"Mmm, alright. I'll check your wounds and see if there's any cancer in your system."

"Alright Chakwas."

She then scanned me with some futuristic machine. There was some beeps and bops, then she was finished.

"Mmm, your ear will have to be taken off. The 'graze' actually took off half of your ear. I'll add it with a synthetic ear, it should make up for loss of hearing. It may even increase hearing. Your chest shots are fine, they barely surfaced through your skin. I can take them out, but scars will remain. I can remove the scars though if you wish. And then there's the blow to your head. It caused a little bit of damage to the back of your skull. I can introduce a metal-like skin to protect that area. Although, you will probably feel some pain from time to time. It seems that you already have some bullet fragments in your body, which I'm assuming is from your death-experience. I am unable to remove those fragments without proper medical machinery, I'm afraid."

"Right, right. Leave the scars, makes me look badass. Also, the bullet fragments are okay. The fact that they are there means I can't become too sick. Which is good. The bullet fragments 're good for my immune system, ironically. Ok, how long will all these procedures take, Chakwas?"

"Around 2 hours. Plus one to rest in here, after you've woken. If you'd like, I can call in somebody or some people when you wake up."

"Yeah. Call Kaidan in after I first wake up. When Kaidan leaves, get...Shepard in here. She'd probably be worried."

"Of course Serviceman."

And after breathing in some anaethistic, I finally pass out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Ulysses Dream-Visits

"Courier. It's me, Ulysses."

"Eurgh. I guess I'm still knocked out. Yeah, I can kinda get that you're Ulysses. Due to your synthesized voice and dreads."

"Yes. My voice is somewhat robotic-sounding. And my...hairstyle is due to my tribe. Do NOT disrespect it."

"I ain't. Why are you here?"

"To answer further questions."

"How do I have biotic powers?

"A side effect of the Universal Traveller. It let off a radiation burst, which must've woken something in this universe. Perhaps this universe has a different 'radiation', and you were exposed to it from the UT."

"Uh huh. Should I tell anyone of where I'm from."

"I do not know. I would advise against it. Just for now, at least. Perhaps with people who care and trust you. And you care and trust for them. Like the alien 'brother'."

"Alright. Last question...Why me? And don't give the bull about unexeptional people etc. You could've picked some other guy or woman."

"You...I cannot explain my reasons. Perhaps, when the time is right I ma-"

"The time is right, huh? You said that three years ago. And one year ago. When will the time be right?

"Not now. Soon."

"Go just jump in a Varren's mouth you asshole. You think you can just be all mysterious, not tell me ANYTHING about why I'm here. Well screw you."

"It would be wise to listen to me ******"

He'd used my real last name, not Courier or Dewitt. It was a little strange to hear my old name.

"Yeah? Well, guess what. I'm making my own fate, and my fate says you can get lost."

"Fine. I will leave. When the Shepard arises again, her Flock will be Swarmed. I will see you when this happens. Goodbye, ******"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Implants, Cybernetics, And Talks.

I wake up, slowly. I blink several times, my eyes adjusting to the light. I groan, as I try to sit up.  
"Easy there Serviceman, don't try to move to quickly. You'll have to not overstress your new implants and cybernetics."

"Implants? Cybernetics?"

"As well as introducing the synthetic ear and the skull protection, I also added a special cybernetic which will increase your strength, agility and speed. The implants I've introduced will let you regenerate your wounds just by a little bit untill you reach proper medical attention. However, side effects of these new 'upgrades' will increase biotic cool-down, and tech cool-down. Another side effect is, you may live for a very, very long time, as the implants will work automatically and try to keep you healthy and alive for long as the implants and cybernetics function. Also, you can be 'hacked' by others. This 'hacking' will stop all tech attacks, rendering you useless for your tech talents. But that's all." Chakwas explained, her doctor face on.

I thought about what the good doctor had said. So bad things were: I'd have to wait a bit longer for biotics to be used again, and I could possibly be stripped of my tech talents if I'm hacked by a certain synthetic/robot or a merc/assassin/etc. So at one time I could essentialy only use my firearms without any backup. This wasn't a good thing. Still, I would live for an unexceptionally long time and also I could heal small wounds over time, while more severe wounds wouldn't kill me so easily.

"Alright. How much do I owe you doctor?"

"Owe? Hah" She chuckled. "I did it for free. I was only able to perform this operation on you due to your strength. If it was done on Shepard, for example, it would either kill her or drive her psychotic. You're a lucky man Serviceman. Also, I forgot to mention, any wounds such as flesh cuts will always leave behind a scar. There's nothing I can do about that, I'm afraid. But, that should be all. I'll call in Kaidan." She walked off, to her terminal. She pressed a few buttons and went back to her reports on medical stuff.

I waited a little while when Alenko walked in, and sat down by me.

"Hah kid, looks like you already got yourself into a scrap!" He said, with a smirk in his voice.

"Yeah well, beating up a Krogan fist-to-fist is likely to get you pretty screwed up" I retort, with a smirk of my own.

"Huh. You don't strike me as the Krogan Beater. After your little 'fight' with the Gunnery Chief"

Oooh, low blow Kaidan. Low blow indeed.

"Well, we were just sparring. Anyways, tell me about yourself Alenko."

"Uh huh. Well I'm a biotic. L2 implant though. I'm quite lucky, considering. I only get migraines"

Oh right, his L2 stuff. I better play along.

"Huh? I'm a L4. A prototype which I may've stolen from a merc company called Eclipse... Anyways, I thought that L2s were upgraded to L3s?"

"Yeah, well lucky you kid. I never thought that there'd be a All-Rounder, if you catch my drift. Most soldiers, even N7 men and women can only specialise in two things like tech and biotic etc. You got some good training, training I've never seen before. Explain"

Great. Now he's gonna be suspicious of me. Well I got a bit of a backstory.

"Well I was a detective in the NYPD on Earth. I got my biotic powers through a red sand bust gone wrong. I can tell you a different time."

"Alright then kid. I'll be sure to ask you next time we talk, okay?"

"Yeah. See ya then Alenko."

"Bye Dewitt."

Kaidan then got up and left to his station thing. Veronica then walked through, almost as Kaidan just left.

"Hey Veronica. Just been through a serious transplant, my brain had cancer."

"Well, good, 'cause your brain wasn't that big anyways." She replied, a devilish grin on her face.

"Hah. Anyways, what's the next mission?

"We're to go to an uncharted planet, I forget the name. Anyways, Admiral Kahoku wants us to search for his missing troops. We got a possible lead on their location, hence the trip to the uncharted planet. We're to see if they're okay, escort them off the planet and back to the Citadel. I'll be taking Liara, Garrus, Wrex, you, and maybe Ash. Enough about the mission. Tell me about how you got your biotic powers Dewitt."

"Right. It's a doozy, so hold on. As I said, I was a detective. We got a lead on a possible red sand dealing at a rich ass hotel. I got back-up and we were to take down all possible gang members and stop the red sand deal. I was to go from the roof, rappel into the windows and shoot the hell out of everything moving. What we didn't know, is that there was a Eezo deal as well. I rappeled in, shooting. I accidently shot a red sand packet. I felt my skin tingle. I shrugged it off and kept shooting. I was getting flanked on all corners. My back-up breached a wall, shooting. They shot an Eezo canister next to me. It exploded, letting that crap out. I inhaled too much of that. I then got knocked out. A few days later, I woke at a hospital, and doctors told me that I had been over-exposed. I had gotten biotic talents in me. My DNA strand had literally changed, with a new biotic now exposed. And that's my sad story."

She nodded, gathering my story. It seems a little fishy but hey, it's a likely reason for why I can specialise in all three talent types. Still, I wouldn't blame her if she thought that it was a little suspicious.

"Uh huh. Thanks Dewitt. Alright, I'll see you later. I remember I've got an 'appointment' with a certain Vakarian."

I grin, as she leaves. Then T'Soni walks in, carrying a few datapads.

"Here you go Doctor. These are on Turian, Asari, Krogan and Quarian physiology. It mainly holds information on which treatments to use and how."

Chakwas just nods in response, putting the datapads beside her terminal.

I close my eyes, I only have around 10 minutes before I can be released.

"Courier?"

I open my eyes, to see T'Soni looking at me.

"The name's Dewitt by the ways. And yeah, what is it?"

"My apoligies D-D-dewhlitt. I just wanted to say my thanks for saving me, back on Therum in the Prothean ruins."

I can't help but chuckle at how she tries to pronounce my fake last name.

"Right. It's D-e-w-i-t-t. And it's no problem. It was just part of the mission."

"Still...I wish to thank you. If it wasn't for the Commander and her squad, I would've been executed by Saren's assassins."

"As I said, it's no problem."

"Well, I'll see you around then. Goodbye, Dewitt"

"See ya around T'Soni."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Thresher Maws, Missing Soldiers, And One Big Surprise.

"3,2...1"

We drop into the ground of the unchartered planet.

"Vakarian, get on that turret! Wrex, make sure the cannon's operational and Dewitt, keep the Mako's shields up and going! Liara, if you can, make a small barrier around part of the Mako to keep it protected in case we run into trouble."

We all say aye to respond to Veronica.

I tap away on my Omni-tool, as it's connected to the Mako's shields. I make sure I can do all I can to keep it high.

"Shepard, looks like a transport vehicle over there, and it's got a Alliance logo." I yell out, over the loud Mako engine.

Veronica then drives, bumpily I might add, over to the transport vehicle when we all feel a massive tremor, but too small for an earthquake. I can hear the Krogan mutter some of his race's curses. I hear the Prothean researcher mention Goddess, and the Former C-sec officer mention Spirits whereas Ashley swears quite loudly. Through the only windows at the front, we all see one, big, massive, scary as hell looking worm-thingy.

Well crap, it's a Thresher Maw.

"DEWITT, I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS THERE ARE, IF WE DIE DUE TO OUR SHIELDS GOING DOWN, I WILL KILL YOU. GARRUS, FIRE THE HELL OUT OF THAT WORM, AND WREX, MAKE SURE THE CANNON'S FIRING BETTER THAN A KROGAN DRINKING RYNCOL!"

I furiously type away on my Omni-tool, rerouting some of the secondary's engine power to the shields.

I start to think of a phsychotic idea, which may involve a painful death inside a big ass worm's stomach.

"SHEPARD! I CAN GO OUT, DISTRACT THE THRESHER, WHILE YOU SHOOT THE BLOODY HELL OUT OF IT!"

She stares at me in shock, and disbelief. I ignore her and I jump out of the door, onto the ground with the Thresher Maw.

Let's kill a Thresher Maw.

I hear orders from Shepard to get back in the Mako. I reach onto my ear and switched off the comm.

I pull out my assault rifle, and I quickly added two mods. A mod that will harm organics quickly and make those bullets incendiary, causing more damage. I shoot small bursts, not wanting to unneccesarily overheat my weapon. I throw up a Barrier, and dive behind a small rock. I pull out several grenades and stick them together to make a small-ish bomb. I see the 'cover' I'm hiding behind is now dissolving, and the acid is spewing from the Maw's mouth. I throw my assault rifle away, as it's pretty acid-eaten. I see most of my front armor pieces has holes in it. I pull out my HMSWR shotgun and I aim towards the Maw's eye things. I shoot a few times before running towards another rock-like thing. The Mako's cannon is booming away at the Maw, and the machinegun is firing extremely quickly. I see the Maw's movements is a bit sluggish. I keep firing, when the Maw's acid attack just gets my armor again, but only on the legs. I grunt, as I hear a sizzling but I keep moving from rock-to-rock. I Charge the Maw, only mere metres away from the 30 feet monstrosity. As it rears it's fat head down towards me, I throw the grenade-bomb I fashioned early into it's mouth, and I dive away. I start runnning towards back to the Mako, which is still firing. I put one arm around my back, and I press the detonator.

I feel a rumble, and I look at the Maw. Well, what's left of it's lower head.

A few minutes later, after making sure there aren't any more Maws around, I head over to the wrecked transport vehicle. The Team comes over, in the Mako, and gets out. Wrex comes over, with Veronica, and laughs. And I mean laugh, 'cause his deep voice is rumbling, and I swear my bones are shaking. He puts one hand thing on my shoulder, and just chuckles some more. He walks off, to where the dead Alliance soldiers are. Veronica looks at me, and it's a damned scary look. Looks like we're going to have an interesting conversation back on the Normandy. We both move over to the Alliance soldiers and the beacon. That's when I hear a metallic banging. We all look at the wrecked transport vehicle. What the hell? We all draw a weapon, be it sniper, pistol, shotgun or assault rifle, we got it, we draw it.

The Alliance transport vehicle door then opens to show an Alliance soldier, who's got blood all over her, and she looks pissed off as hell.

"About damn time you got here!"

Chapter 8: Bringing A Familiar Face Aboard The Normandy


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Surprise!

We all stare at the woman in disbelief and shock(But not Veronica...). I'm especially shocked. I mean, I think in the game no-one survived the Maw encounter. I mean, who would? Okay, we did and I did but that doesn't count! We got kick-ass equipment. The wrecked transport vehicle certainly doesn't have any offensive capabities on it.

"Jeez, you all look like you just seen a ghost."

I blink in disbelief. Well no crap lady, we just have! Noone was supposed to survive this encounter!

"Name and rank soldier?" Asks Veronica, who seems to be...calm?

"Just a guard is all, a gun-for-hire. The name's Rose of Sharon Cassidy, at your service."

Oh my God! It's Cass from flipping New Vegas! I wonder...was this Ulysses's doing?

"Uh huh. Do you have information on what happened here ?" Asked Veronica, gently.

"Please, just call me Cass. And yeah, you betcha. I was hired by a couple of Alliance guys, said they had a job for me. I was to help them investigate a beacon, just there. That's when we got ambushed by that big-ass worm thing. I was still in the transport vehicle when it got smashed with me still inside. I woke up, the other Alliance soldiers ripped apart. I had a quite bit of rations to survive on, so I managed to stay in here. I tried sending out a distress signal but the beacon was interfering."

"Uh huh. We'll take you back to our ship for a check-up by our doctor, and get you fed some proper food. If you want, our next stop is the Citadel so you can stay with us 'till we get there."

Cass nodded and followed us back to the Mako, but only before Veronica and Ash shoot the beacon, which I'd say switches it off.

"Looks like there isn't enough room for everyone. Who wants to sit on Dewitt?" Veronica asks, with the biggest smile to her face.

Wrex just snorts and sits somewhere else, which is good 'cause he'd break my legs. Liara's just stepping from one foot to another, Ash is just standing with arms folded and hip cocked to one side. Cass simply shrugged it off, as she thought it was pretty casual. Garrus laughed, his flanging voice resonating around the small space.

"Girls, I don't bite y'know" I say with a bit of a cheeky smile as I sit down.

Cass then skulks over, back slightly arched from the small height. She then sits on my lap and does nothing.

I can't help but blush a little.

"Alright then. That's sorted. I'll call Joker and get him to get a shuttle down here"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A Punch, A New-Found Relationship.

"And so we and by we I mean dumbass Dewitt, he killed the Maw. That's all there is to the report. Dismissed. and Serviceman, stay behind."

Everyone nodded and got up except us two. They all left the room when Veronica punched me right in the cheek.

"YOU IDIOT! DO YOU REALISE YOU WOULD'VE DIED IF IT WASN'T FOR US IN THE MAKO?!"

I did expect some yelling, but no punching.

"Commander, with all due respect, I'm the reason we found , and killed that Maw."

She stands there, fuming. After around ten seconds she turns to Cass.

" , we have reasons to believe you may be helpful on the Normandy. If you want creds or-"

"Say no more. I'll help you, on one condition. We find the bastards who put the beacon there, and you swear not to hold me back when the time comes."

" I can't let you ki-"

"I won't kill them. I'll just hurt them untill they wish I did kill them."

Veronica sighed, and nodded. She held her hand out. Cass shook it.

"Thanks Commander. And please for the love of God, call me Cass."

Cass got up, and left the comm room, leaving me and Veronica.

"Look, I'm sorry Commander, it wasn't wise for me to get out on foot."

"Shut up Serviceman. You saved us from a pretty certain death. Which is why I'm going to promote your unofficial rank to Private. Private . Has a ring to it, don't it?"

I grinned in return, nodding vigourously.

"Well then. Dismissed Private."

I mock soluted and exited the comm room. I'd think I'd go down to the Showers level. I walked downstairs and headed into the elevator. Cass was standing there beside me, when I pressed the Showers button.

"Hey Cass, is it? Anyways, where you headed?"

"The showers. Three days in a wrecked transport vehicle with blood, sweat and hot air surrounding you tends to make you dirty."

I chuckle in response and step out the elevator onto the tiled floor of the Showers deck. I walk over to the furtherest, most kind of isolated shower. I turn the dials so the water's warm but not too hot nor cold. I took off my white shirt with nothing special on it and my blue jeans. I was probably the only one on the Normandy who wore 'old' clothes as such. I left my black boxers on, as well, I don't like public showers. I stepped under the water when I heard a wolf whistle. Y'know, the one in movies where guys do that weird whistle when they see a hot chick. Well this time, it was the other way 'round. I turned around and saw that Cass had a bra and panties on. I blushed a little and closed my eyes.

"What is it Dewitt? I'm sure a handsome fella like you has seen plenty of girls. Plenty"

"I feel like you're calling me a prostitute or something like that"

"Hah. You'd be too expensive I reckon." She said with a grin to her voice.

"Awww, you're so nice...and probably right. So, tell me about yourself Cass."

"Well sure, I guess. There's not much to say. I'm Earth-born. From a place called Vegas. Not born there but I'd say that was my hometown. I travelled with a guy, Xavier, his name was. He was a like a Courier, he uh, delivered things. I was like his muscle, a guard. I used to own a delivering company, before it was destroyed by...merc companies. Uh, Xavier and I were to find who was responsible. It was two pretty big merc companies, a splinter group called the Silver Rushers and another delivering company called the Red Vehicles. Xavier and I brought evidence to an old friend of mine and he promised to deal with them peacefully as possible."

Hah. On most male character playthroughs on NV I helped out Cass peacefully, and my character name was Xavier. Coincedince, much? Anyways, she tried to choose her words carefully at the moment.

"Uh huh. So, how come you joined up with the Alliance men?"

"Xavier and I...parted ways. I was in the Citadel when a couple of Alliance soldiers saw that I looked like a good gun-for-hire. They promised a pretty large amount of creds, so I took the offer. That was ooh, two weeks ago, I reckon. We got on the planet around three or two days, I can't tell. Anyways, we'd bonded pretty well. They gave me some standard Alliance armor, which was better than the crap I was using. So, short answer: Creds, and possible adventure. Why are you here?"

"Long story. I'll tell you another time, when we're not showering publicly."

She shrugged and went back to cleaning herself.

A little bit later I walk over to Wrex, in my black shirt and leather jacket with a pair of black jeans. I feel like being Gothic today. Sue me. Actually, don't I got like, not many creds. Apart from the nearly 4 million creds. Haha!

"Dewitt." Wow, progress. He said that without looking like he'd punch me in the stomach and kill me.

"Wrex"

"We need to talk. About two things. What happened on Therum and on our recent mission with the new woman."

"Uh huh." I shrug. "Alright then, what do you want to talk about?"

He paces around his crates and stops to look at me.

"What you did to that aslek Krogan on Therum...dishonorable."

"What did I do?" I ask, innocently.

"You...took off that Krogan's faceplate...How did you know?"

"I didn't. It was luck. But now...Now I know where I'm aiming for, Wrex." I say with a menacing grin.

Wrex looks at me with...well, I wouldn't say fear but a certain...wariness.

"Now for the Maw. What. The. Human. Hell. Were you thinking?! A Krogan can't do it all by himself! Then YOU, a HUMAN, take one down with a shotgun, some grenades and a Mako cannon. I gotta say...I think you are a good, strong Human."

"Thanks Wrex. I wasn't alone. I did have help from the Team."

"Aye, you did. But still...You took down a Maw. You are officialy, Human-Krogan."

"Wow, big honor. I'm glad to have this title. I name you my big, 'roid freak, ugly as hell, brother."

He nodded and went to leaning on the crates. I walked over to Garrus and leaned against the Mako.

"Oh, hey. Something you want Jack?"

Ah, there we go. Garrus is probably the only one who calls me Jack. I don't mind as we're inseperable brothers.

"Nah, just saying hey."

"Well, I got a couple of calibrations to make so c-"

"Screw you. You are not choosing calibrations over me."

"Fine. What did you want to talk about?"

"What's your opinion on Veronica?"

"She's a very good woman. Strong, intelligent, charismatic..."

I can't help but smirk.

"Sounds like you got a crush on a certain Commander"

"As you have a crush on a certain Quarian Machinist?"

Ohh, low blow bastard. Plus, I don't have any crush on Tali. I got my eye set on someone else... Okay, I can't lie...I like most of the girls on the Normandy...

"I don't like Tali in that way Gar. Anyways, I won't tell anyone about your little Shakarian thing going on."

His faceplates moved in a form of embarrasment.

"Uh huh. Thanks Jack. I'll see you later"

"Alright, see you later Gar."

"Also, I got a lead on Saleon. He's apparently on the Citadel. After Veronica deals with a few things, and after shore visit, we're going on the last case we solve together. We will kill this bastard."

Oh yeah, Saleon's going to pay for what he did.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Shore Leave Party

We (Garrus, Veronica, Wrex and Cass) walk up to Admiral Kahoku.

"Yes Commander? News on my Alliance men?"

Veronica nods, but slowly.

"Aye Admiral. But let's just say it ain't some good news..."

Veronica then explains what happened and the report on the unchartered planet.

"We also have a gun-for-hire, Cass, who can give her report on the things that happened."

"Aye, Kahoku, is it? Your men approached me for my 'services', and I accepted it. We went to the beacon, but we got attacked. Slaughtered is more of a better description. I managed to survive due to quite a bit of rations and water. For an unknown reason, the transport vehicle was able to convert the air from outside and take the toxins out, making it breathable. Commander Shepard and her squad killed the Maw, and rescued me."

Kahoku soaked the information, his frown deepening as Cass continued the story.

"Right. Thank you Shepard. If I find more information on the events that happened here, I will contact you asap. I'll see you later."

We walked away, a burden lifted off our shoulders. Cass seemed more...I dunno, she had more of a spring in her step for sure.

"Alright Team, we're dismissed. Shore leave starts now. Also, ex-Detectives, meet me at the C-sec Academy first thing tommorow for the 'thing'. Also, tonight, go to Flux for a 'party' of sorts. It happens every shore leave, so yeah. For the second time, dismissed."

After we all leave the elevator, I head to Gun Runners. What can I say, there are some good guns there, as well as a new armor branch starting up. I've decided to dismiss my Bounty Hunter job, so I need a new armor without being 'seen' as such, by other mercs/hunters. So when I get to the Gun Runners, I'll get the directions to the Armor Runners (Yeah, cleverly named) and sort that out. After, I'm going to look for a tech place and see if there's any new upgrades for my Pip-boy Omni-tool.

"Dewitt?"

I look around and see a all too familiar Quarian.

"Yeah Tali?"

"I was going to ask if you knew about any tech places as well as an armor place that served Quarians."

"Nah, but I do know a possible armor place. And if there's any rascist bastards, trust me, I'll make sure they wish they never ever heard of Quarians. 'Cause, well...heh." I say with a bit of a...violent grin on my face. Jeez, I've been getting more violent, angry, prone to outbursts. Maybe a side effect of the implants? Anyways Tali just nods, as if ignoring that I may be becoming a psycho.

I'm staring at what has to be 'Soap'. No, not a actual soap, but it is a Sniper. My god, the curves, the barrel on the thing...It's so beautiful that it'd probably make Garrus cry. I pick it up, and I swear I let out a whine. It was so light, but pretty damned strong. If it hit someone (a Human) it'd probably break their jaw. Light, but deadly. Like a fart. Yeah, I went there. Anyways, I bring it over to the storekeeper, Mick. Tali's picked a alright shotgun, but I got her a way much better one. She had complained at how it's 'too expensive.' I ignored her and paid for it. It was only 300,000 creds. I got around oooh, 2,780,000 left. Plenty.

"Hey Mick, how much for Soap?"

"Ah, Soap. A beauty, kills silently without damage reduction. Normally it's around 600,000 creds but since you're a freqeunt customer and you got your discounts, it'll be the low price of 390,000 creds. I'd say that's a pretty good cut-down, no?"

I nod, almost drooling. I hand over the credit chit to him, and remembered.

"As I say a polite society's an armed society. Anything else?"

"Yeah, Mick. I heard you guys got a new branch, which develops armors. If possible, I'd like a direction as well as directions to a good tech store."

"Alright. Down the walkpath, there's the new branch store. A good tech store's just next door to it, ironically another branch of ours. We like to keep our customers satisfied with every need."

"Thanks Mick. I'll see you later, yeah?"

I left the store, with Tali in tail. I'm still wearing my armor, so I put Soap on my magnetic clamp with the weapons I got.

"Once again Dewitt, thank you. Thank you so much, this shotgun's beautiful."

"Just like you eh?" I say, with a cheeky grin.

Her body language goes from shy, to somewhat angry.

"How would you know? You can't even see my face." She says, with a bitter tone.

"It's not always the appearance that can be beautiful, it can be the soul. The personality, the happiness, the essence of life. I didn't mean anything by it."

She was silent. She didn't speak for a while.

I finally saw the Armor Runners shop. I went in, and my God, it was BEAUTIFUL. There was some Turian, Krogan, Quarian armors, of course, but there was some kick-ass Human armors. I walked over to the helm(et)'s section. Oh my flipping Jesus, there was a Recon Hood. Just like in ME3, which I swear on whatever Gods or Goddesses, is so badass. I pick it up, and feel it. It feels rough, like snake-skin. But I tapped it from the inside, and it felt pretty damned hard. Sweeeeet! I got a helm. But now, I need a good armor set. Tali's just looking at the selection of Quarian suits and armors. I see a Turian 'flirting' with her, and she's just telling him to get lost. I walk over, my fist clenched.

I say with a forced smile, "Everything alright Tali?"

The Turian scoffs, "Get lost Human, she's mine."

I breathe slowly, barely containing my fury.

"You better do as the woman says."

"Or what Human? You're gonna 'terrorize me'. Stupid ape."

I breathe more loudly, my face going red.

"You have one more chance, Barefaced bastard."

Okay, I went there. I didn't mean to be a Bareface'd rascist, but I went there. This asshole was aggravating me more than a fly that won't die does.

He goes to grab me, but I simply move to the side. I quickly pull out Soap and press the barrel against the Turian's head. Everything, everyone goes silent.

"Piss off, or your head does without your body. Your choice."

The Turian quickly runs out of the store, which I'm grateful for. I would've pulled the trigger, but he had made the right choice.

"Thank you Dewitt..." Says Tali, quietly.

Everyone goes back to shopping. I go back to the Human selection, and I keep looking. I see an armor which looks like a cross between the armor from Crysis and the ODST(Orbital Drop Shock Troop) from Halo armor.

That's when I get something strange...not a vision, but something else...

 **You. Are different.**

Agh, the hell? There are noone around, and everything seems normal. Everyone's shopping as usual.

 **You aren't from here, Jack *****.**

 **Huh? Who are you?**

 **I am Vera. I am a...AI, of sorts.**

 **The hell you doing in my head then?**

 **I was sent from a creator, Ulysses. He sent me to help you on your long, painful, lone journey.**

 **Ulysses? Jeez...**

 **Indeed. I was a Human, much like yourself. I...died. But Ulysses had captured me. By me, I mean my conciousness. Through much pain and failures, he uploaded me. I'm human. Yet, computer.**

 **Wow...So, how can I see you?**

 **If you upload me to a helm's comm link, I can project myself onto your HUD and face-to-face. I will automatically upload all data you may wish me to project. I am much like the AI from Halo, that game you were just thinking of. As well as that, I can also upload special upgrades to your armor such as jetpack, and so on.**

 **Dayum...Awesome. Alright, thanks Vera.**

 **Logging you out Jack.**

So basically, I have a dead human conciousness uploaded AI in my head, sent from Ulysess. What joy!

I pick the cross-breed armor from the two games, and I walk over to the shopkeeper. I pay for it, when Tali comes over with a very...elegant suit/armor. I pay for that too. It all comes to around 500,000 creds. By my calculations I have...around 2 million creds left. I dunno what the math is. Anyways, I pick up the armor suitcase, and leave the store. I go towards the other store, the tech one. We spend a little bit of time untill we find what we want. I get a new upgrade which will reduce likeliness of hacking on my implants, and Tali just gets a Savant IX Omni-tool. I pay 100,000 creds, and upload the new upgrade. My Pip-boy beeps, as it recieves the new software. It starts to download it. I grin happily, with my new gear. I got a Soap, Crysis/Halo armor and a helpful-ish upgrade for my Pip-boy.

"Dewitt?"

"Yeah Tali?"

"Thanks for...'defending my honor' back there."

"No problem. I'd do that for any of my friends."

"But...Let's go to the party. We can do something there."

"Aye, but I need to get changed first. I think partying in my combat armor is not how you party."

She gave a girly giggle. I leaded her back to my/Garrus's old place when we were roomates before Veronica.

"Welcome, to my place. There's a room, a room built for Quarians, so if you want to change into a different suit or armor, you're free."

"Thanks Dewitt."

"No problem...and please...just call me Jack. I hate it when friends, hell, best friends call me by my last name."

"Alright...Jack."

After about 10 minutes I'm dressed. I take a look at myself.

I look mature. I got blue eyes, that go with the blue shirt I'm wearing. I'm taller than most, hell, I'm nearly the same height as Wrex. I got muscles, but not like the 'roid freaks you might see in WWE or something. I got brown-black hair, that is pretty messy. When it's set right, it's almost like Soap's hairdo in COD:MW2. Of course, I got it set right now. I got scars on my face, which makes me look pretty badass. I've got a proper beard, like a survivalist in Fallout:NV. I've gone through these past 3 years and 1 month. And, I've got a long, long way to go. This is my life. One screwed up life, for sure. Anyways, back to me. I'm wearing a pair of black jeans, and combat boots. I'm wearing a blue shirt, buttoned up, but leaving collar exposed. I've got a bit of a tanned complexion. That's pretty much what I looked like. If I must say so, I look pretty damned handsome. Also, I'm wearing that Turian necklace Garrus gave me. I'm always wearing it, actually.

Tali came out, in her old same suit. But, her hood was different. It was...blue? Huh, it looks good on her...real good.

"You ready to go Jack?"

"Uh yeah...uh...you look good with the new hood."

"Aw, thanks Jack. And you look very dashing with your...shirt, is it? And your hair thing, it's very 'cool'."

I grinned. Aw yeah, I'm dashing. Watch out ladies, Jack Dewitt, Courier, Badass, is in town!

We enter Flux, side-by-side. We walk over to where most of the Normandy's crew is, in a booth. A large one, for a large group. The club's crappy music is pounding, but in the booth it's only just a little bit loud. I sit down, in between Cass and Kaidan. I order a Ryncol. The other crew members just looks at me where Wrex laughs.

"Make that two Ryncols! We will see who can outdrink eachother."

I shrugged, accepting the challenge. I'm going to get wasted as hell, and that means a crap hangover.

A couple of drinks later, I'm telling everyone (drunkenly of course) about how I saved the Council's asses.

"And so I said 'screw you assholes, I'm damned awesome'. The end."

Yeeaahhh, I told the story differently. Still, funny.

I drink the next drink of Ryncol. I feel my worries, my troubles passing. This was such a goood idea. I stand up abruptly.

"I postpone this drinking contest, untill after I've had a dance. Anyone interested?"

The guys are drinking their respective liquids, and the girls giggle (Even Veronica).

"Fine. I'm going to be a lone wolf!"

I walk over to the dance floor, and start moving my body to the rythm. I start dancing with another woman, and we have fun.

I see Tali get up, and come over to me. I pretend not to notice, and I keep dancing with the woman. Tali moves in between us, and she dances really, REALLY, close to my body. I grin, having a good time. We go back to the booth, where most of the Normandy's crew is laughing.

"What's so funny guys?"

Veronica answers, smile on her face, "Nothing...just a certain Courier may have delivered a certain Quarian to love."

"Just as a certain Turian has detected a certain Commander's love" I retort, with a cheeky grin.

I see Kaidan grimace a little, and Garrus blushes. I can tell he's blushing by his faceplates moving a little fast. Veronica just smirks in response. Oh crap...I may've just admitted to having a crush on Tali...Dammit all too hell.

Joker interrupts, "Looks like you lost the game Dewitt."

Game? What g-

"You BASTARD. I JUST LOST THE GAME. ARGH!"

What a douche. I need to remind myself, once I'm sober and I see Joker, I 'accidently' Lift him for a little bit. Just to scare him. I'll be careful not to break his legs or something.

After a night of debauchery, fun, and good ol' fashioned fights, I finally go to sleep with one thought trailing in my mind.

I can't let anyone die, not at Virmire, nor the prologue to ME2, or ME3. I am the Courier, and I will deliver safety to everyone.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Finishing Saleon.

I put on my Recon Hood, and I see the HUD come up. Jeez, it's cool. I see heartbeats, security systems, lifeforms and my weapon overheat counter. I see a mini-woman come up to the screen.

 **Hello Vera.**

 **Hello Jack. I'm getting enviroment checks, and lead on Doctor Heart, AKA Saleon.**

"Alright. So Ex-Detectives, we're to go to this abandoned warehouse. We will try infiltration, but we may have to go loud. If we see any test subjects, we're to try to help if possible. But your main objective, deal with Saleon. Dismissed."

I nodded, with the objectives showing on my HUD. I pull out Soap, and I follow Garrus.

"So, we finally taking care of Saleon, huh Garrus?"

"Yeah. Veronica wanted to see if there was any personal stuff going on. So she approached me, 'asked me nicely', so I spilled the beans. Now, we're here, finishing Saleon's sick experiments."

I nod in return.

A few minutes later, we're on the roof of the warehouse. We're complaining on who should go in the vent system to infiltrate.

"I died asshole! You go in!" I say, pissed look on my face.

"You can't use your death crap on me Jack. It's not fair."

"Then don't pull the 'You should go in the ventilation system due to your expert infiltration skills."

He sighs. Screw it. I'm going to go in. I jump into the vent system, and I'm surprised. Even through my Recon Hood, I can feel the warmth.

 **Vera, pull up databases on 'Dr. Saleon/Heart.'**

 **Extracting...Extracting...Found. Reports say that has a cover buisness selling biotic implants. However all workers claim that is very secretive, shadowy. Even fewer have claimed to seen 'Ghoul-like creatures'. has invested in several Citadel hospitals, as well as possible black market dealings. That's all primary information Jack.**

 **Uh huh. See if you can find all cameras, anything that can be incriminating evidence against him.**

 **I will. Logging you out.**

I keep crawling through the vents. I hear talking below me.

 **Vera, amplify talking.**

 **Will do.**

" 's insane! Did you see that freak thing shambling after him?"  
"Yeah, I did. C'mon. Let's not talk about it, he might be listening."

The talking stops, and I keep crawling. I see a grate, and I lightly kick on it with my foot. It falls off easily, and I jump down. I unfold Soap, and I move around an empty hallway. I crouch walk over to a locked door.

Vera, security?

Easy. Hackable.

Alright, hacking.

I start typing on my Omni-tool module, and shortly, the door opens. I see nothing important, but I do see a camera.

Vera, the camera. Loop it for around...ten seconds.

Looping.

I quickly run to the other side, before the camera is functional again. I lean on a wall, which leads to a corner of a not-so-empty hallway. I quickly peek out, and I see two armored guys with their backs to me. I lob a Lift, and I quickly shoot them with Soap. I move over to their bodies, but I don't see anything of interest.

Vera, who were these guys?

Searching through databases...These men were Eclipse mercs, but they were under the employ of .

Seems like a certain Salarian's been up to some trouble, and wants some protection. Well, no protection is going to stop us...

I keep walking through the hallway.

"Jack, Garrus here. I've got Saleon. Well, he's in a camera room, and he's overlooking everything. I'll need your back-up due to quite a few guards."

"Aye aye Garrus. I'm moving to you."

Vera, upload map schematics, and Garrus's position on the HUD.

Uploading...Uploaded.

I see that Garrus is only two rooms away so I keep crouch-walking through the hallway. I see a room, but it's not marked on the HUD. I walk through it, and I'm shocked.

I'm surrounded by Ghouls.

Feral Ghouls.

Oh crap.

I quickly back out, but the Ferals follow me. So these are Saleon's test subjects. I quickly run through another door, and I'm only a room away from Garrus.

"Garrus! I got some of Saleon's test subjects chasing me, and they ain't friendly!"

"Alright, I'll get ready!" He responded, a little bit of panic in that flanging voice of his.

I quickly open the last door, the one leading to Garrus's position. I vault-jump over a turned table, and I turn around. Garrus is behind said table, and he starts shooting. I start shooting with Soap, trying to aim for the Feral's heads. I let off a few shots, before I switch to my pistol. I shoot quickly in succession, a few Ferals falling. Garrus snipes them easily, without too much stress. Where the hell is Veronica?

That's when Veronica comes in, using her biotic powers to destroy the Ghouls. Garrus and I provide cover fire to make sure she doesn't get swarmed by the freaks. I feel the pistol overheat, so I switch back to Soap. I let off a few shots, and now there's only three Ghouls left. I Lift them, Garrus Incinerates them, and Veronica Shockwaves them. After their horrific animal screaming, they finally die. I reach up to my Recon Hood, and I take it off.

"Holy crap. That was...intense." I say, panting slightly.

"Spirits yes! Those creatures...hard to believe that once they were Asari, or Turian or even Human."

"Aye. Alright, Saleon's just up there. I managed to kill off his guards. Let's finish him."

I put on my Recon Hood again, and I put Soap on my weapon rack on my armor. I pull out Erode, and I make sure it's not overheated. We jog up a set of stairs, leading up to a locked door. I quickly hack into it, without too much problem. We see cameras on our right, and a bunch of dead test subjects to our left. Up ahead is Saleon, sitting on a chair casually. He's smoking a Salarian equivalent of a cigar. He has no weapons on him that we can see, but he could always be hiding a detanator for some bombs hidden away.

Vera, scan the warehouse for any bombs.

Scanning. Scanned. I have found two bombs. Both are in this camera room. One strapped to Saleon, and the other is inside the camera network.

Alright. Disarm them if you can.

Will do.

We walk up to Saleon, our weapons raised.

"You bastard. We found you. And now...we're going to finish the case." Garrus says, as his Turian finger/talon slowly presses on the trigger. Veronica then jumps at Garrus, making his pistol shoot somewhere else.

"Spirits! Commander, what are you doing?!"

"This isn't justice. We can bring him in to C-sec. This is vengeance, not justice."

I walk up to Saleon, as the two are arguing. I grab Saleon, press my gun into his mouth, and I squeeze the trigger. His Salarian blood, brains, and part of his head leave his body, leaving a mess.

"Case closed, you bastard."

Silence falls, the two shocked.

We finished Saleon. About damned time.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A Short Interlude Of Anger & Grief

We're heading back to the Normandy, after giving some incriminating evidence to Executor Pallin. Veronica's pissed off at me, and Garrus is just solemn.

I had to kill Saleon. I had to. The things he did to people, was barbaric. You don't twist someone's DNA into one of an animal. A...creature. What if those test subjects had families, jobs, friends? Saleon took that away from them. I don't understand why Veronica is so angry. What I did, was good. Sure, it's a bit like a vigilante, but in some cases vengeance is justice. And this case, it sure was justice.

We finally head out of the elevator, and walk towards the Normandy. I may've been harsh in my justice, but still justice. We get into the decomination room, and we wait for the scanning to finish. Once it does, we walk onto the Normandy. I'm heading towards the elevator, so I can catch some shut-eye. I feel a hand on my shoulder plate of my armor. I turn around, and see it's Veronica. She beckons me to follow her, ironically to the elevator.

We don't even make it to the elevator before Veronica starts.

"What the hell Private? I said we were to take in Saleon to C-sec!"

"And I disobeyed you. What I did was right."

"No it wasn't! You just don't kill people!"

"He wasn't 'people'. HE FREAKING STRIPPED PEOPLE'S IDENTITES AND TURNED THEM INTO ANIMALS. FERAL CREATURES. DO YOU FLIPPING THINK ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE?! THOSE PEOPLE MIGHT'VE HAD FAMILIES, JOBS, FRIENDS! DO YOU THINK OF THAT?! NO! BECAUSE, YOU WEREN'T THERE FOR THE CASE! WHAT GARRUS AND I SAW, WAS BARBARIC. NOONE, AND I MEAN NOONE, DESERVES THE FATE THAT THESE PEOPLE GOT! I WOULDN'T WISH IT ON MY WORST ENEMIES." I yell, rage lacing my voice. I'm yelling at Commander Shepard, Lioness of Elysium, Human Spectre, in front of the crew on the Normandy.

Crap. I think I'm in for it now.

Kaidan walks over, looking all protective.

"Dewitt, I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

"AND YOU AREN'T ME, ARE YOU?! THANK GOD FOR THAT!"

I walk into the elevator, and I press the button for the Crew's deck. No-one enters the elevator, nor do they speak. I just yelled at their CO and Kaidan.

Good, no-one will talk to me. All I want is to sleep.

The elevator door closes, finally descending. God, these dumbass elevators take forever.

The doors finally open, and I walk to my private room. I got a private room due to Human perks. The Alliance still had their rules, and rules decree that Humans get V.I.P status. Well, that's my version of it. Anyways, I'm in said room, and I sit on the bed.

 **Vera, lock the door.**

 **Locking...Locked. The encryption is experimental military-grade. Only very experienced hackers will be able to decrpyt it.**

 **Alright, thanks Vera.**

I lay my head down on the pillow, and I close my eyes. I then hear knocking, but I ignore it.

"Jack, open up" Comes the flanging voice of Garrus.  
"No Garrus. Get lost." I reply, rage still in my voice. "Fine. You've left it to the old way."

For the love of God...he's going to hack the door. He knows how to hack these type of encryptions due to some sims we did back at C-sec.

 **Vera, make sure you fight against Garrus's hackings.**

 **I will. He won't be able to get in here unless he suddenly can override algorithms that sequence between five, three, and six every milliseconds.**

 **No idea what that means but I'm sure that's going to be hard to crack.**

 **Logging you out Jack.**

After a few unsuccesful attempts from Garrus, he finally gave up. I heard his footsteps retreat away from the door. I could finally try and relax.

I closed my eyes, and I let oblivion take me.

 _Darkness. Pure darkness. That was the result of the wars. Then the Great War. The one which ended in only two hours. People screamed, dogs whined, birds sung fear, fish were afraid. In two hours, everything had changed. There were new rules. Three rules. The first, Survive. The second, Everything and yet nothing will kill you. The third, War Never Changes. But men do, through the paths they walk. My name is Xavier, and I am Courier Six._

I woke up, sweating, cold, afraid.

What the hell just happened?


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: AI Turns To Be A Lot More Than Expected

I didn't understand what had happened during my sleep. It seemed like, well, I had relived a memory of Courier Six. Xavier. I don't know what happened, but it seemed like I had been _given_ the memory.

 **Vera, do you understand my, well, given memories?**

 **Yes. You see...I am Xavier. But I died. From something, I forgot.**

 **Wait, Ulysses told me that there was a female Courier that dealt with him.**

 **That was my sister, Faithful.**

 **Uh huh. So how come you're well, a female AI?**

 **When I died, my sister was in a lot of grief. She brought me back to life at the Big Empty, but only as a voice in the conduits and plugs and modules. And for some reason, I was imprinted with a female voice, name, and hologram of a body. I do still have my memories and personality.**

 **Well, damn. That's interesting to know.**

 **Logging you out Jack.**

So, in the alternate universe of Fallout, there was 'two' Courier Sixes. Brother and sister. Brother died, sister uploaded conciousness to conduits. Sister then 'dealt' with Ulysses. Ulysses then went to Big Empty again, found the UT. Then, I don't know what would've happened from there. I think, I'll recieve more memories as I go.

Now though, I need to go to Veronica.  
I realized that I shouldn't havee had that 'total rage moment' with her. I coulda just, I dunno, talked to someone about it? Anyways, Veronica shouldn't have questioned me on what happened.

I exit my private room, where surprisingly no-one is. Veronica or Garrus mighta told them that I wasn't in a good mood.

I walk over to the elevator, and wait as it slowly ascends or descends to the crew level.

The door of the elevator finally opens, to reveal Veronica.

Saves me the trip.

"Private."

"Shep. Look, I wanna apoligize for what happened. I was outta line, about my whole tantrum thing."  
"It's fine. I want you to come with me, to my room"

I did. Once we reached her room, she closed the door.

"Read my file Dewitt."

"Alright."

I open up a datapad.

 **Commander Shepard. Alliance Hero, War Hero, Human Spectre.**

 _ **Commander Shepard, hero, bloody icon of the Alliance. At the age of twenty-two succesfuly held of a slaver invasion on Elysium. Recieved title,'Lioness of Elysium', as well as Legendary Valor medal, only given to true heroes. At the age of twenty-five, was sent on a suicide mission. Squad was ambushed by several Thresher Maws, and was all slaughtered. Only Shepard survived, seemingly unharmed physically, as well as the Purple Heart, for her losses. At the age of twenty-six, was sent on a retaliation mission to Torfan, a well known slaver's land. Nicknamed the Butcher of Torfan by Batarians, and other grudgeful Humans. Very recently, was she given the extremely priviglious title, rank of Council Spectre. Rumours dictate that Shepard may no longer 'officialy' work for the Alliance, but is now the Council's 'pet'. Secondary information shows that Shepard is a very strong,powerful,charismatic, and deadly woman.**_

Jesus...she wasn't only a War Hero...goddamn...

"Wow. Listen, I take back what I said a few hours ago..."  
"Now you understand. You think I'm just a robot, no emotions, no feelings? I went through so much crap, then you said what you said. I want, no, need you to realize that I am Human too. Not some...Grunt..."

She broke into tears.  
What was it with women crying around me? Do I have that aura around me or something? Jeez.

I moved over to her, and I pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay Veronica. I get it now."

"Good. 'Cause, I am Human."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Touching Down On Feros.

"Alright, so Ash, Garrus, Dewitt, Cass, and Tali, you're on the ground mission. Suit up, get your guns, 'cause we'll be touching down in...half an hour. Move it."

I walked over to those weird lockers by where Ash and Wrex are. I open it with my Omni-tool, and I put on my Recon Hood.

"Dewitt, how can you even see through that thing?" Asks Tali, confused.

"Through my awesome powers of mystery, fame, and wealth. Also, 'cause there's two eye thingamijigas which I see out of. I get a lot of stuff. Kinda like Garrus's eyepiece. Actually, in all the three years I've been with him, I've never seen him without it. Weird."

"That's because it's very helpful. I can see a lot of things with it. Like anybody's body temperatures, hormone levels, heart beat rate, etctera. In fact, I see two people with quite high hormone levels when they see each other." Garrus says, Turian equivalent of a smirk on that ugly face of his. Okay, I say ugly 'cause he's pissing me off.

"So, you're recording the moments when you and Shep see each other? How romantic..."  
Yeah, that's right, I went there Garrus.

After eight seconds, the silence breaks.  
"No, I'm talking about you and Tali."

"Dude...that wasn't an insult. You have a three-second rule, five at the most to insult me back. So, your insult is invalid."  
He flips me off with his talon finger.

I grin, and I start taking off my shirt.

"Uh...what are you doing?" Tali says, a little flustered.

"I have to take off my clothes, not my boxers, to put the armor on. You see, if I had clothes on, it'd be extremely uncomfy. So yeah."

I unzip my jeans, and kick them off. I also take off my shoes. I start putting the armor greaves on. It feels quite strange on the outside, but surprisingly comfy inside.

"That's a very strange armor then..." She replies.

"Yeah, but it's a very good armor."

She nods, and maintains her weapons.

I finish up with my greaves, so I start putting on the main part, the chest and arms section. Once I finish, I start putting on my special glove-like sections. They're kinda like Batman's gloves from Arkham Origins, a bit bulky and strange. But, they do have an upside. I can lift up to ooh, 400 pound of things? So, it's good for picking up rubble and the like.  
I finish, and look at myself in a mirror. I look good. Real good.

I basically have a cross-breed between ODST and Prophet's armor (With the exception of the Batman gloves). Badassery, at it's maximum. I gotta say, I need a name for the armor. And a rename for Xavier/Vera...Hmmm...Faithful. In honor of Xavier/Vera's sister, and it's pretty damned awesome.

I get a futuristic paint spray like thing, and I start spraying the word 'Faithful' across my chest plate in a dark red color. God, it looks awesome. I'm real impressed with my choice of armor, and all that jazz.

"Niiiiice. How much that all cost Dewitt?" Asks Cass.

"A lot of stolen creds from a few certain merc companies."

"Thought you were a detective?" She replies, frown on her face.

"I was. I quit around...seven or eight months ago. I uh, became a Bounty Hunter as well as a literal Courier. I delivered certian things to certain powerful, influential people. When I was a Bounty Hunter, a few folks wanted some vigilante justice done. I did said justice. As well as picking up a few upgrades for myself, I pretty much took my fair share from the merc leaders. Well, merc splinter leaders."

She nodded. She didn't smile, chuckle, or even move her mouth in a form of amusement. Jeez, when I put it like that, I may seem like a murderer, thief, and asshole in general. When I think about it, I must have some bad karma. Need to give back to the world/galaxy/universe, if I want some good karma.

"You seem like a real...Mercenary kind o' guy." Cass says after an agonising amount of time.

Well, wasn't Mercenary neutral karma back in the world of Fallout? I guess that's good.

After finishing loading and setting up some mods on my weapons, cleaning off them, and talking to a few of the crew members, we get the two minute warning to meet Veronica at the airlock. The crew members which are on this deck that are on the ground team walk over to the elevator, including me.

"Jack, you got the details on the mission?" Garrus asks, checking his sniper.

"Only a bit more than what Shepard gave me. We're to go to Feros, discover the reason why Geth are there, but as a secondary objective, we're to help the refugees at a place called 'Zhu's Hope'. As for the extra information, we know that Saren DID come here, to a place called Exogeni Corp. That's all I got." I reply, with hidden distaste at Exogeni.  
"Right. Thanks Jack."

"Your name's Jack?" Asks Tali, confused.

"Yeah. I'm sure I said it. Sometime or something..." I say, rubbing the back of,well, my Recon Hood. Okay, I don't usually mention my first name to most people. Call me paranoid.

"Right. Do you mind if I call you that?"

"Yeah, sure. No problemo amigo."

"Hmm?" Tali hums, confused.

"Some lingo from home...I'll explain it another time."

She nods in return.

We finally exit the elevator (Me, Garrus and Cass). We walk over to the airlock, and see Veronica.

"Seems like a colonist wants to meet us. We're just going to get out, and meet him, get our information. Move it folks."

We exit into the docking bay of Feros, and walk/jog over to the colonist who's waiting.

 **Xavier...wait...Vera...No dammit, I'm calling you Faith, while my armor's Faithful.**

 **Yes Jack?**

 **Run a thermal check, see if there's any Geth around. See if we can save this guy from the whole 'firefight' moment.**

 **Scanning...Geth signatures found.**

"Shepard, just ran a quick check, there's Geth inbo-"

Too late, as the colonist falls to the ground, hole where his right eye was.

"Jesus!" I yell, only just diving behind some cover.

 **Jack, you're being hacked. That Geth sapper is the hacker.**

 **Thanks Faith.**

I Lift a few Geth troopers into the air, and I quickly pull out Soap, and I unfold it. I snipe down the Geth, succesful in most of the shots. I try to scope down the Geth sapper, but the damned thing's too fast, and 'hoppy'.

I feel my anger and frustation mix with my aldrelaline in my blood, and next thing I know, I'm Charging the Geth sapper. I don't really feel like I'm controlling my body, as I repeatedly smash in the Geth. I pull out my assault rifle, and flank the Geth troopers, spraying wildly. I charge, and not biotically, the Geth, jumping up, and doing that awesome kill like motion in Assassins Creed two. Instead of the hidden blades, I'm using my Omni-blade. I stab the Geth, while shooting wildly with the assault rifle in my one free arm. I wrench the blade out, and quickly swipe at a few Geth's heads. I feel a few bullet impacts go into the armor, but not into the flesh. I execute the last Geth with some style.

"Spirits Jack! Never knew you had that...ferocity." Comments Garrus, impressed.

"Maybe I just didn't want to steal the Commander's attentions from you?" I retort, jokingness in my voice.

"Shut up Jack" He replies, flipping me off again.

"What you boys talking about?" Veronica interrupts, wiping some sweat off her face.

"Nothing, just how I fought is all."

"Right. I gotta admit, I did have some doubts in my mind about your combat prowess, and you did confirm some."

What? What'd I do? Or maybe, it was something I didn't do.

"Eh?"  
"You're too...well...aggressive. As in, you charge in headfirst, bullets spraying, arms flailing."

"That's just how I've always fought Shepard. I can do the tatical route too, but that's only when it's an important situation."

"Right. Still, watch your ass, 'cause it'd be a damn shame to lose a fine man like you."

"Yeah, it would be. A lot of merc companies, old suspects, and a few serial killers would probably come to my funeral, make sure I am dead. Heh."

We start moving up the staircase, to Zhu's Hope, to the weird refugees, and to Exogeni, to find some answers.

This is gonna be a doozy.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Finding Answers From Exogeni

So we helped out the Zhu's Hope's refugees, with their food, water, electricity and the Geth problems. Now, we're heading to the Exogeni Corp building to find some answers on why Saren was here. Obviously, I know why. The Thorian. God, that's gonna be so joyful.

We're now driving along the skyline in the Mako. Dangerous voyage due to the fact there's no railings on the sides, we're thousands and thousands of feet above the actual planet's ground, and there's Geth. Geth ROCKET troopers. ROCKET. As is big ass missiles that shake the Mako pretty damned hard. And, lucky me, I get to be on gun duty. Finally, I can shoot the crap out of everything with some good firepower. Using the gun's extremely easy too, due to there's only three things to touch. A joystick, to move the turret, then a foot pedal thing for me to press on to shoot the machine-gun. Then there's a button labelled 'Missile.' Basically, press that, then things go BOOM!

We finally stop at the place where we meet the Exogeni workers. I get out of the Mako, sniper raised, making sure they're no tangoes around. I follow Veronica down a ramp, where a guy runs up to us.

"Who the hell are you?!" Says Jeong.

Oh hey, how do you do? Yes, I fare quite well, asshole!

"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my Team. We're here to investigate a rogue Spectre's activities recently made here on Feros."

"Well, we don't need you snoopin' around Exogeni, for all we kn-"

"Shut up!,"A woman interrupted "Sorry Shepard, tensions are high at the moment. How can I help?" I think that's Juliana.

After talking a little bit, we finally get back in the Mako, and head for the actual Exogeni building.

I shoot a lot of Geth troopers, while checking out the Exogeni building. I look at the Geth dropship that's attached to the side of the building. Jesus, the building's wrecked as all hell. Looks like it could fall any moment, taking half the damned skyline with it.

After finally making it to the entrance, we exit the Mako, and head out on foot. I check my sniper, and I jog over to the crack which leads to a small cavern-like area. I jog through, and I scan the area for any Geth enemies.

I let off the last shot, killing the last Geth bastard. We jog over to the barrier-like thing, and jump down into the actual cavern. We encounter a few Varren, but make short work of 'em. We encounter the woman's daughter, and Veronica gets some more answers on a few things here at Exogeni. We move through the building, and we encounter the Krogan.

I barely contain my laughter.

"I'll blow your virtual ass into literal dust!"

That gets me every time...

And now it just got me. I laugh, my voice modified to sound more robotic.

Dammit, I just blew our cover. It doesn't matter as we pretty much use all our ablities on the Krogan. By 'use' I mean overkill. Have you ever seen a Krogan that's been Lifted, Thrown, Incinerated, then Shockwaved? It's certainly not pretty, for starters.

After getting some information from the VI, and after I hack into it's knowledgebase with Faith, we move out. I got the information on the Cerberus dealings, as well as the Thorian. Looks like Exogeni's been up to no good.

We move up, take out the Geth dropship's anchor things, and we move back out. We encounter the Juliana's daughter again, and Veronica's not happy.

"You used the refugees at Zhu's Hope for some...experiment?!"  
"C-C-Commander...They threatened to put me there if I didn't co-operate. There wasn't anything to do!"  
"Fine...if I find out you've been lieing to me further, you'll regret it!"

Damn, bit of a Regnegade showing through there. Still, it's fair. I mean, of course she'd be pissed off when she finds a company using people as test subjects...Jeez, when ME2 comes around, she'd be struggling not to go on a total murder mission against Cerberus. Still...

Anyways, we move to the Mako with the woman's daughter in tow. After some uninteresting minutes of driving, we make it back to the place where we encountered Juliana and Jeong.

"Your daughter's probably dead! And we NEED to advance Priority Coverup. We can't let the experiment get too outta control!" Yelled Jeong, obviously pissed.  
"NO! They're innocent! You can't execute civillians because the company needs to save face!" Juliana said, with a desperate pleading look on her face.  
"Get outta my way bitch!" He yelled back, pulling out a pistol, before he yelled again. "And Shepard, come out! I know you're there!"

Well, let's go deal with this bugger.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: No Reason To Kill Innocents.

Veronica reasoned with the asshole, we got the Anti-Thorian gas grenades, and now we just encountered the Thorian creeper.

"That didn't seem like a refugee from Zhu's Hope Shepard."

"No, it seemed far more...feral."

"Alright, here's the plan. No killing any of the refugees, we use the grenades. Now, I think there was...eighteen refugees. Some may be in groups, other individuals. How many 'nades we all got? I got three."

"One" Garrus says.  
"None" Says Ash and Cass.  
"Five" I say.  
"Three" Says Tali.

"Right. That should be sufficient. Otherwise, use unlethal tatics, melee if close up, and leg shots IF NECCESARY. Do I make myself clear." We all nod or say aye in response. "Good. Let's move out then."

We all jog through the garage doors, shooting at the creepers, and I throw a 'nade at the first group of refugees. That's the first group done. Around, fifteen refugees left. And eight grenades left. So far, so good.

We exit the elevator doors, and we're immediately flanked by them creepers. I hear a sizzling, and I look down at my chest plate. In addition to the word 'Faithful', I had Varren scratches and bite marks as well as acid scorches. It looks pretty damn awesome, but I stop admiring the scenery, due to the fact the refugees are shooting at me. I hop behind cover, and I ready myself to throw a grenade. Tali beats me to the chase, and throws one already. We move furtherer into the refuge, taking care not to severley harm any of the refugees. I realise that for some reason, the last three grenades have gone missing. Probably when I get encountered by the creepers quite personally. We encounter the last group of refugees, and it seems like none of us has any more 'nades. I decide a tatical route would be...Suicidal charge, melee them, and subdue them.

"Shepard! Cover m' ass!"

She looks back at me in disbelief. She nods, shooting a few creepers. The Team provides cover fire for me as I run at the obstruction that the last refugees where hiding behind. I leap over it, and I do a combat roll to get back up. I grab a refugee, I punch him several times, before throwing him at another refugee. I pick up one of their Lancer assault rifles, and I quickly hit another with the butt. I throw it, at the last one, before doing a jump-kick, winding her, and she goes flying back into a wall. She slumps, passes out. Well, that's all the refugees, alive, unharmed, free from the control from the big ass Thorian mind control.  
After we all check our wounds, ammo, and after making sure that the refugees are subdued, we move over to the crane controls.

Veronica starts typing on the crane controls when Fai Dan comes out. Damn, forgot about him.

"Sh-Shepard, i-it wants me to kill you b-but I won't, I won't...Make sure Zhu's Hope is safe...That's my l-last wish." Fai Dan then brought his pistol up to his head.

I don't think so mate! I quickly pull up my pistol, and I feel time crawling to a stop. Everything seems to move in slow-mo, as I release the trigger.

The bullet hits it right where I want, just on Fai Dan's arm, and he looks so shocked, that he drops the gun. I jog over to him while he's stunned, and I punch up hard on the jaw. He's knocked out instantanesously, and I can't help but grin under my Recon Hood. I just stopped an innocent man, from a not-so-innocent death.

I walk back over to Veronica, and she looks impressed.

"Nice Dewitt." She says with a smile. "You've just saved an innocent."

"Right. Enough pleasantries. Let's go see why Saren was so interested in this Thorian creature."

We move down the stairs, down into the abyss the dark creature calls home.

Whoop-de-doo.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 17: Dealing With The Thorian, Getting The Cipher.

"Spirts. What is that?!" Asks Garrus, his faceplates moving slightly, his eyebrow things furrowing into a frown."

"I'm gonna go on a limb and say" I take a big breath for drama "...The Thorian." I said, watching the big-ass plant. It's well...Salivating, and not doing much at all. It's much creepier than in the game, but even in the game it was creepy as hell. I mean, the weird ass tentacles, royal creeper guards and that goddamned Asari green thing? That's just iceing on the damn cake! Albeit it's probably literal mud cake, with little green worms and then vomit as the iceing. So, damn, this is certainly gonna go in my 'Bad Crap' list. It'll top it for sure.

"Well holy crap. Alright Team, watch the corners, open spaces and the Thorian, just make sure there ain't anything hostile around here. Mo- What the hell?"

The mouth/front tentacle things starts to salivate like crazy, moving like a kid addicted to caffeine after getting his fix. Suddenly, the green Asari plops out, and I mean plop by the sound. She gets up, no emotion displayed on her face, her black combatant suit worn tightly, her posture rigid, stiff just like a soldier.

"You trespass on the land, polluting, killing, destroying it. What do you want, if not death against nature?" She asks, with a neutral voice. Well, looks like the Thorian is acting friendly, for now."

Veronica responds, lowering her weapon, but not holstering it. "All we want is to help. And in exchange for our help, we just want some information."

"We were offered help once, yes, but the creature betrayed us. We need a reason not to rip the skins from your bodies, use them for nutrition for our plants, then grind your bones, to create substances for our babies.''

Jesus, that's vivid...

"We're not here to harm you in any way, all we wish is to help you."

The Asari's face goes through several emotions. Anger, confusion, then happiness.

"Fine...We will help as you promise to move us from this planet. We wish to make a new start."

Holy crap. We ain't gonna fight the Thorian? It may come useful as a war asset when the Reapers finally come 'round. And that won't be for a really, really long time. Jeez, I just realized, I ain't even a quarter through the whole story, and I got a long, long way to go. Better try to enjoy the calm before the storm.

"Alright. We'll help you. On three terms. We want information on Saren, why he was here. Secondly, we want you to release the refugees of Zhu's Hope from your mind control. Thirdly, I want your guarantee that you will not harm anyone, and you will give me your help when the time comes."

The green Asari nodded, with an understanding emotion on her face.

This seemed way too good to be true.

Wait, what if the Thorian had mind powers which can twist reality into the mind controller's victim's dreams and wishes.

Veronica probably didn't want any bloodshed, I wanted a diplomatic solution, and the Team probably had enough of the creepers.

Nah, I'm just being paranoid.

But paranoid's kept me alive.

And I'm pretty sure this situation wasn't a good one.

We could literally walk out here, thinking we reached a peaceful solution, when essential we could have sent Alliance crews to fuel the Thorian's bad plans.

I see on Veronica's face that she looks serene, peaceful...content. Like a fat person finally eating all the damn buffet, then the desert bar.

I try to move, but my brain is unable to comprehend anything, as if it's well...being controlled.

I reach for my pistol, but my hand moves as it's in slow motion. I struggle to control my body.

"What is it Jack *****? Are you not happy that we have reached a happy ending?" Asks the green Asari. How the hell does it know my name? And my true name too. Damn, probably just blew my cover. Well, I can quickly think of a backstory to explain why I chose a last name as my fake name. Then I have to explain why I chose Dewitt. Damn it. Goddamn Thorian. Just had to go and use it's mind powers on us.

I try harder, my biotics trying to help me. I yell in frustation, and my movements are a little bit faster.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

 _ **We are the nature. You can't defeat us. You cannot. And will not. We will control you, destroy you, assimilate you, and asorb your memories.**_

NO! YOU WANT SOME MEMORIES, THEN GO THROUGH THEM!

I think of all the loss, sorrow, happiness, joy, confusion, as I played the Mass Effect trilogy. I showed the sorrow of Mordin's death on Tuchanka, at the place where the Genophage cure ended, I showed him the loss of Legion if I sided with the Quarians, I showed the confusion of the ending with TIM, and the possible indoctrination theory, I showed the happiness of getting all the crew together, but most of all, I show EVERYTHING there was to experience. All the loves, all the friends, all the enemies, vigilantes, aliens, locations, and most of all, the Normandy Crew from SR-1 and SR-2.

THERE YOU GO. YOU WANTED MEMORIES, YOU CERTAINLY GOT 'EM.

 _ **What ARE you?!**_

I feel my body moving normally, and I quickly grab my gun, and I aim it at the Asari's head.  
I press the trigger, and the bullet exits the barrel. The bullet moves at least 3.4 kilometres per second, unless changed by air pressure or wind. Luckily, there's no wind down here, and I doubt there's any air pressure down here, 'cause the HUD certainly ain't showing any pressure. The bullet finally reaches the Asari after only 3 nanoseconds. It starts penetrating it's skull, which is thicker than a Human's. But easily, the bullet goes through. The bullet moves lke a hot knife through butter inside the substitute brain. It slows down, as it breaks into small fragments. But the core piece of the bullet still moves, towards the back. It exits the fractured Asari skull, leaving behind a messy trail of Asari blood.

The others get out of their dazed state, and look confused.

"The hell just happened?" Asks Veronica, confused as all hell.

"Basically the Thorian was mind-raping us, trying to make us believe that there was a diplomatic situation when in fact the Thorian would've just kept mind-controlling more and more as it grew, untill it basically started a empire of slavery."

She soaks the information in, looking quite, well, disturbed.

"Riiiigggghhhhtttt. And how'd you figure this out?" She asked, a little bit suspicious.

"Paranoia. Also, I kinda ripped all information from Exogeni on the Thorian, and a few reports said stuff about 'Reality-bending' mind powers. I realised that when ya'all looked like you were as high as a kite, that something was up. And well, my paranoia kinda helped that theory that it was mind-controlling us."

The Team looks pretty damned terrified. I mean, for all we know, the Thorian could mind-rape us again. And that time, I doubt I'd realise what would be happening. This time, I was lucky. Jeez, I wonder what the whole indoctrination proccess is like? Probably much more subtle yet potent than this. This was too brash, too outward. But the Thorian would've learned from it's mistakes.

We move into the room where we find the Asari with the Cipher.

We just fought our way through the creepers, several Asari clones, and tentacle arms. I've got splattered acid, blood and muck all over my armor, in addition to the dried acid and Varren marks on my chest-plate. All in all, we just gone through a lot o' crap.

The weird ball-like thing on the wall opens up, and releases a normal looking Asari.

Thank God, no more green Asari jerkoffs.

"T-Thank you. You have no idea what it was like..." The Asari says, arms draped over her chest, looking damned relieved.

I guess I'd be relieved if I was being assimilated into a mind-controlling plant's general, while being stripped of identity and most of all, freedom.

Veronica goes through the whole conversation about the Cipher, and why Saren was here etc.

We move out, back to the Normandy.

All o' us just went through some corportate secrets, mindless zombie-like things, mind-rapings, and some more answers to more complicated crap.

Yippe-ki-yay.


End file.
